Why had he given this to her? Was this some kind of symbol? Was he trying to tell her something? She looked down at the watch again. It was broken now, she noticed. The hands had stopped moving.
Toki looked back up at her brother's pale face, her eyes narrowing in determination as she realized what she had to do. What her brother was telling her to do.
"I promise, your murder will be avenged. Then time will pass once again for you, whose hands were stilled too soon."
This was the only thing she could do, Toki realized as she began to don the outfit her brother had once worn. In order to allow her brother to rest peacefully, she needed to avenge his death by killing the one who murdered him. Then and only then would time finally begin to move again and she could pass on to be with her brother and father once more.
That had been the day where time began to stand still for her, and until she had her vengeance against the one who murdered her brother, she would never be free.
Maybe that was why she felt so unsatisfied with how Mōsō planned on having Chomei executed. How was she supposed to get her vengeance if someone else killed the one responsible for the death of her brother?
Which was why she had no intentions of letting Mōsō or anyone else kill Chomei. That was her responsibility. Her right. She was the only one who was allowed to kill him. It was the only way her thirst for vengeance would be sated. The only way she could force time to start moving again.
Making her way down the hall, Toki slid the shoji door opened to her room, shutting it behind and her walking deeper into the room where she would begin getting dressed for the Cursed Warrior's last debut.
Only to freeze when she saw there was someone else in the room.
"You!" she said in shock. There, sitting on her bed was that annoying blond boy who had the gall to call her an asshole. And now he was here in her room!? Sitting on her bed!? Such insolence! "What are you doing here!? How did you get passed the guards!?"
"Uh... hello, ninja," Naruto said, pointing to himself an unrepentant grin sitting on his face. That look only served to piss Toki off more. "And I came here because I needed to talk to you, Mr. Cursed Warrior-san. Or should I say, Ms. Cursed Warrior-san?"
Toki's eyes widened in shock. He knew?
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Toki tried to play off her shock and anxiety with a scoff and some anger, both of which she directed towards the blond. "Now get out of here before I call the guards and have you killed for breaking and entering into my palace!"
"Come now," Naruto's grin got even wider. "You may be able to fool everyone else, but you can't fool me." The blond sniffed the air. "Mmm... lavender and lilac. Not a very manly scent, is it?"
Toki gaped at the blond. That was how he had discovered she wasn't a male? Her scent? Toki felt like cursing. How could she have been so stupid as to neglect something as basic as changing her scent. Such a thing had never even occurred to her in the past.
Then again, she hadn't really expected to meet anyone capable of sniffing out the subtle aroma of her perfume. She didn't even know ninja were capable of doing that. Or was this one different?
"So you found out," there was no use hiding it from this boy. If he could actually smell that she was not a man than lying would do little good.
"Wasn't that hard," Naruto thumbed his nose, the vulpine grin still on his face. He really looked like he was enjoying himself. That was something she would have to rectify soon. "The moment we first met and I caught your scent, I knew you weren't a man. No self respecting male would wear perfume, especially one with such a feminine smell."
"It doesn't matter," Toki unsheathed the kaiken hidden within her kimono. She regretted not having her katana or naginata with her, but then again, maybe that was a good thing. Those two weapons were much longer, and while they provided her more reach, they would be difficult to swing in these enclosed quarters. "Now that you know, I can't allow you to live."
There was nothing left for her to say. Everything that needed to be said had been said, and now all that was left to do was kill this stupid boy for being foolish enough to interfere in her affairs.
She closed the distance between them as quickly as she could, her kaiken coming up to stab Naruto in the chest. It was her hope to end this as quickly as possible. She could not afford to dally here.
Sadly, Naruto proved to be a much more formidable foe than she had imagined. The blond quickly fell backwards, dodging the attack as he rolled off her bed on the other side and got back to his feet.
"Oh, not bad, not bad," Naruto said, his tone playful and teasing. She wished she could wipe that smirk off his face. "You're pretty quick on your feet, Hime, but you should know that your pretty much moving at a snails pace in my eyes."
Toki nearly snarled as she jumped on the bed and tried to slash out Naruto's left eye. A kaiken was not a weapon made for slashing, being such a short bladed sword. They were mainly used for stabbing, but that didn't mean they couldn't easily slice an eye out if given the chance.
Naruto was not going to allow her that chance. Quick as whip, the blond stepped to the left and twisted his body, letting the blade pass him by a few inches. This girl was quick, but she didn't have the ability to enhance her body with chakra like a ninja or those Samurai in Tetsu no Kuni did.
Lashing out with his right hand, Naruto knocked the kaiken from Toki's grip. The startled girl gave a gasp and tried to jump back, only for Naruto to grab a hold of the bed sheets she was standing on and give them a quick yank.
Toki fell back with a yelp of surprise and a harsh crash, hitting the ground and getting the wind knocked out of her. She coughed several times as her lungs tried to fill themselves with the oxygen they had been so brutally deprived of. It took a good deal of time, time which Naruto used to grab her kaiken and move to stand several feet away from her so she couldn't try anything.
She made to sit up, her long raven hair spilling out behind her head as the fall knocked both her hat askew and undid the knot in her hair. Looking over to see the blond boy... man, staring at her with a surprisingly calm look that had not been there before, Toki let out a sigh.
"If you're going to kill me than you might as well get it over with," she said harshly, causing the blond to frown.
"What the hell makes you think I'm here to kill you?" asked Naruto. Toki blinked and looked up at him in surprise, causing the blond to lose his calm look snicker a bit. "You didn't seriously think I was here to kill you, did you?"
Toki felt her face warm up. She was surprised she could actually feel any emotions at all, much less embarrassment. But for some reason, this man laughing at her for what seems to be an incredible misunderstanding if she were to judge from his words, embarrassed her a great deal.
"Well if you're not here to kill me, then just why are you here?" she asked, huffing a bit as she stood up. Sighing as more of her hair fell out of the knot she had made to keep it in place, Toki began retying her hair. She then looked around for her hat. It wouldn't do for people to see all the hair she was hiding. Thankfully it wasn't too far from where she had taken her fall, and she quickly scooped it up and put it back on her head.
She then looked over at the blond, who was staring at her with a strange look.
"What are you looking at?"
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